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WhoaaaaOOOOOH we’re half way therrrre!! LAWL. OMG. Seriously you guys my first seven marathons and all the work that went into them was all just foundation for THIS training cycle. This shit is bananas and I love it!! Lifelong Endurance is giving me what I’ve asked for.

Monday, May 28th – easy day

Scheduled: 10k easy and controlled

I headed out along the Cannery Road and continued all the way to North Pacific Cannery instead of turning around at 5k for a total of 11.2km.

Tuesday, May 29th – hard day

5k warm-up

8 x 3:00 ~ 5k pace, 2:00 moderate jog

3k easy

The intervals were challenging today, so much traffic on the highway and it was raining but I took it from Beyond Grit to accept these distractions as extra challenges and got it done! I even felt so good after the 8th rep that I was able to run the last 3k at goal marathon pace, on average. YES.

Next up, swimming lesson 2/4. Awesome!!! After my 30 minute lesson I stayed at the pool for 1400m.

Then I found out a spot opened up in Kristen’s schedule, so I headed for a session with her at 7:30. As always, fan-fking-tastic. Anyone who has me walking on my hands on a treadmill is my kinda person. LOL.

Wednesday, May 30th – easy day

When I saw 10k on today’s schedule I did a double take. Usually Wednesdays are my non-running recovery day, but I didn’t question it because my body is feeling good and strong and I’ve fit in some naps this week. Coach says we’re just testing it and to let him know if/when I need a rest.

Thursday, May 31st – hard day AND LAST DAY OF FREAKING WORK

5k warm-up

6 x 1K @ 4:22-4:18, 2 min rest

3k cool-down

HOLY!!!! This was awesome. I think it’s worth mentioning a couple of things I noticed.

My self-talk has changed a lot, and for the better. When I first got on the machine I felt so tired and thought about waiting til after work for this shred fest. BUT, I had a dinner date with a colleague, so that was not an option. I literally said out loud to myself, “it’s only been a couple of minutes, give it a chance” and “don’t worry, it always takes a while to warm up this early in the morning” What do you know, by the time I’d run a mile there was a smile spreading across my face and I was rocking out to my Dad’s music! It pays to talk to ourselves as we would to a good friend.

My ability to negotiate with myself has improved. During the fifth of six repeats, I got that sense of giving up, resting, and trying again. I said “no!” out loud more than once, and then I explained to myself that last week I ran this same workout but the intervals were 1600m, so 1000m was SO doable. Then I said the ABC’s in my head and thought of someone I know who started with every letter. Then #5 was done and there was only one more!

Friday, June 1st – easy day

After some Skeena River Relay preparations with race co-director Crystal, I got in 10k nice and easy and then a hard nap.

Saturday, June 2nd – hard day (race)

hmmm..haha. So today I ran the 21.2k stage of the Skeena Relay. This leg is very PR-supportive. I don’t know if it was realistic of me or not to gun for a sub 1:45, but that was the plan. Considering I’d run 100km in the seven days leading up to this, I think I should have been more careful. Dammit. Good old hindsight. Lifelong Endurance and I aren’t working around these races along the way during Pump Up the JAMmie. Tapering and full rest days around non-goal races just takes away from marathon training. So yeah, I understand why there was no scheduled taper. And I guess the importance of a taper before a hard effort is now knowledge that lives in my muscles, not just a rumour 😉

I took the first kilometer, which is uphill, pretty steady, and then found a really good rhythm on the huge 4k downhill. I let my body relax into gravity and things felt good, but I think I ran faster than I should have.

There are two hills before the course flattens around 10k all the way until the end. The hills felt fine, but I wish I slowed down as soon as the big downhill ended. Once I got over the second hill and onto the river, my pace started to really slip. Legs did not want to turn over and I fell into a ~5:15/km pace that I couldn’t seem to escape. It kinda felt like there was a spell on my body and it wouldn’t do what my brain was telling it to do ahahah

A headwind wasn’t helping, but I just kept going and enjoying my run, which is something I didn’t know how to do about a year ago when things weren’t going as planned!

Then I got the stomach ache. FUCKKKKK. I swear I am eating nothing but white rice for 48 hours before my next race. Two very fast, ninja-like pit stops happened between 12k and 15k. What a frustrating waste of precious time..ANYWAYS.

Thanks to my awesome team for the water support (and honking and cheering!!!!) which kept things extra fun, and I was able to pick it up a bit for a strong finish into the transition stage to high-five Marcie and send her on her way for stage 4.

The Skeena River Relay is the best day EVER and I loved every second of it this year, as usual. Here are the Gooeyducks, after Jana finished hard in the tenth and final stage.

Sunday, June 3rd – easy day?

Originally the schedule said 20k easy, so I got a ride out to where I started running yesterday and ran the opposite direction home. I knew from past training runs that it is almost exactly a half marathon. I actually had a solid run, starting easy to see how my body was feeling and then increasing to moderate for the majority of the run.

The run turned red on Training Peaks and then I saw that the schedule had been changed to only 8k!!! WHOOPS.

Yesterday, after my part of the race, I ate a protein bar immediately and drank a ton of water and Gatorade. We snacked all day, ate at the awards banquet, and later when I got home I chugged some green powder, a protein drink, took an ibuprofen and foam rolled my whole body. I will assume this was at least part of why I was able to churn out a sub 2 hour half marathon the day after a race. It felt good.

Shit got real this week and I love it. Lifelong Endurance really has committed to prepping me physically to run my goal. Ten weeks til Jack & Jill. Lots of work to do, both physically and mentally, but things are going really well.

Monday, May 14th – easy day

10k by myself on the Cannery Road and then 5k trail with Pippa!

Tuesday, May 15th – hard day

5k easy

10 x [30 sec hard, 2:30 relaxed]

3k easy

There was no designated pace for the “hard” parts, so I ran hard! It felt good and it was far more challenging than I expected. The 2:30 recoveries seemed generous at first glance but I needed it!

Then, swimming lesson! First of four. It was really fun and helpful.

Last but not least, a session with Kristen! Good variety and lots of legs!

Wednesday, May 16th – recovery day

This was the least motivated I’ve felt in a very long time! It wasn’t until 8:30pm that I got on the recumbent bike for 30 minutes. My ass went numb so I got off and stretched for a bit, then put in another half an hour for my hour of cross-training. That was all.

Thursday, May 17th – easy day

10k aerobic – struggle!

So tired and SO sore! Like, so tired and sore that it felt like I forgot how to run, and I’m sure not remembering how to run didn’t help me along. LOL. Days like this happen I guess.

Friday, May 18th – hard day

One of my favourite workouts! I got up and got this done right away, which was the perfect way to start my four-day weekend!

3k warm-up, 1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2-1, 3k cool-down

1 = one minute ~5k pace, one minute easy

2 = two minutes ~10k pace, two minutes easy

3 = three minutes ~half marathon pace, three minutes easy

Later that afternoon once I was at Lakelse, I suited up in my wetsuit and did a little open-water practice. I’m so glad I brought my swimming stuff because I forgot how different it feels to swim in the lake. Every single lake practice I can get in will be super valuable for the triathlon.

I feel like this is an inaccurate representation of my swim LOL

Saturday, May 19th – easy day

Jess met me out at Lakelse at the cabin and we headed out for 10k along Highway 37. Together we put in 10k (longer than I was supposed to run..but took it easy) and then she continued on for her 30k total!

In the afternoon I basically did the exact same swim as the day before.

Sunday, May 20th – long run day!

Omg. Check this one out.

26k as:

10k easy

8k alternating between 90 sec ~10k pace, 90 sec easy

3k easy

5k ~half marathon pace

I woke up in our trailer really tired and unmotivated. The first seven kilometers were on dirt road which was an awesome warm up. This whole run went pretty well until I got to the last section. My problem callous foot was on fking fire and I was generally hurtin overall. It probably didn’t help that I was wasting energy carefully running on a skinny highway shoulder to not be a dickhead pedestrian. I was also changing directions to avoid a big hill LOL. Oh well. Overall it went really well for a long workout on Maylong weekend out of town.

Stoked to keep this all going! Done work in ten days which is going to be so helpful for accommodating better warm-ups, recovery, naps and meal-prep!

SUMMARY

WEEKLY MILEAGE: 87 km! Getting up there!

INJURIES/PRE-HAB?

ankle is off and on, still icing and doing some mobilizing stuff I found online

SLEEP? fine

NUTRITION BRAGS?

kept with my usual pre, during and post-run fueling over the long weekend away, and didn’t let nutrition get as derailed as usual on a camping/cabin weekend.

CURRENTLY READING: Beyond Grit – Cindra Kamphoff

CONFIDENCE BOOSTER(S)

felt fantastic on Friday’s pyramid workout

hammered out the mid-run reps no problem on the long run, even with a brutal headwind at times

Like this:

Week five, eh. This is going by fast! I started the week tired from last weekend away in Vancouver, but on the other hand feeling excited about how the half marathon played out. Although I didn’t reach my “A” goal of 1:44:xx, the day had areas for improvement that I’ve identified and I really look forward to running that distance again in three weeks to check in again!

According to Science, my current fitness is in the ball park of a low 3:40’s marathon. Different calculators (McMillan, Jack Daniels, etc.) will give different estimates, obviously, but the bottom line is I feel good, my confidence is building and I trust Lifelong Endurance and our process. Coach Andrew says we are right on track with that 1:45 half, and I’m more stoked than ever to keep working for the next nine-ish weeks (plus taper) to chase down my goal of a BQ!

Monday, May 7th – easy day

8k easy on the False Creek Seawall! My bad ankle (from soccer and volleyball days) was SO angry, sore and stiff, but it loosened up by half-way and I threw some ice on it after. Good recovery run!

Later that evening, 20:00 on the recumbent bike + 30:00 body weight and plyometrics workout from Kristen

Wednesday, May 9th – recovery day

1800m swim

My swim-stokage has faded a little, probably because most of my energy is going into preparing for the marathon. I’ve scheduled four private swimming lessons between now and mid-June and I hope what I learn will help me get more efficient and get back into it! Still fired up for the triathlon, though! Will be interesting to test out marathon pace in the run segment when my legs feel like wood and my brain feels like jello.

On this run I used some mental tricks from the book I’m currently reading (see below) and it was very helpful!! I love practicing brain-stuff on runs that feel less than awesome. Pretty consistent on the back half: 5:08, 5:08, 5:05, 5:04, 5:08

Saturday, May 12th – easy day

6.5 aerobic easy! looks like Coach has added an extra day of easy running!

Some days, I need variety. There weren’t any sets in this run, or a fast finish, but I really wanted to mix it up. I ran every fourth kilometer around goal marathon pace (5:00/km) and the rest relaxed. IT WAS AWESOME!!! And beautiful out, too. My ankle still feels a bit weak and sore, but it wasn’t causing me PAIN. So happy about that.

Share with others!

Like this:

Yahoo another race weekend! Thank you, Lifelong Endurance and Kristen, I’m ready!! Heading out to Vancouver today so I’ll let you know how the went next week!

Monday, April 30th – easy day..

First a swim, then a Butze loop with my friend Pippa, and later, a session with Kristen! She kicked my ass as usual. I love how well she understands my running goals and how she supports them with the training she puts me through.

Tuesday, May 1st – hard day

Tempo run! I (thought I) felt fine from the hard workout with Kristen and was pumped for this run!

3k easy

4k @ 4:58 – 4:46/km

3k easy

It was going AMAZINGLY until I hit that fourth tempo kilometer and suddenly my whole body remembered the workout and I freaked out and stopped! Gah! So annoyed! Then I finished it off, but I supposed I’ve learned my lesson now – no hard gym sessions before hard run day…even if it’s just a little tempo run. My friend Bailey’s tattoo says “Knowledge is just a rumour until it lives in the muscle” ..it’s no longer just a rumour that I shouldn’t do a hard gym sesh the day before a harder run. LOL.

Later, I went to Learn to Run to shake out my body and get in some extra (social) mileage. Ended up with ten more easy Ks for a 20 kilometer day!

Wednesday, May 2nd – recovery day

Felt sore and tired from Monday and yesterday so I started the day with 20:00 of yoga to get going.

After work, 45:00 swim.

This day was stressful for non-training reasons and I was so over it so that was it.

Thursday, May 3rd – easy day

7k aerobic in the evening, since I slept in AGAIN. Sleep has been shit all week!

Friday, May 4th – easy day

6.5k aerobic

I headed out for this right after a nap and felt really sluggish. Kept my watch covered so I’d run by feel only, and ended up with a progression run that felt great once I was warmed up!

Heading to Vancouver now! Tomorrow is the usual pre-race run from Lifelong Endurance: 20:00 easy + strides. Might hit up the Friendship Run at the Running Room on Denman and get my run in there, and hopefully meet John Stanton! The WRS meetup is tomorrow too, and then race day on Sunday! Byeeee!

Heyyy!!!! This week was awesome! Great weather, good variety in the runs and cross-training, and lots of short but sweet functional strength sessions! Still feeling really happy about how the Tenacious Ten panned out and I’m stoked that there’s already another race NEXT WEEKEND!!! Woooo!!! BMO Vancouver Half Marathon, here I come. I ran it in 2014 and have been wanting to go back for that course ever since. Here’s what went down with Lifelong Endurance this week.

Monday, April 23rd – hard day

Sleep in! Still so tired from Seattle weekend! Body felt totally fine but sleep was way behind. I got in a quick twenty-five minutes of functional strength on my break, then after work..TREADMILL HILL WORKOUT!…that I really didn’t feel like doing.

That was HARD but I got it done and felt proud. Worked with 4:44/km pace and felt strong with that. The last two-minute break I got off the machine for a shoe change, but other than that, bang on!

Tuesday, April 24th – easy day

8k easy + drills before work! CHECK OUT THE JACKET! look familiar? It’s the Des Linden jacket!! Bailey and I found it at the Brooks headquarters in Seattle! A happy run but still feeling very tired!

After dinner I fit in a 30:00 glider workout from Kristen 😀 I feel like it’s important to remind ourselves how doable the strength training is that supports running. It doesn’t have to be a trip to the gym for an hour or more working out. Do what you can, when you can. That’s what I’ve been doing and it’s making a big difference in how I remain committed to injury-prevention and becoming a better, stronger runner!

Wednesday, April 25th – recovery day

No running today, but swimming! Too lazy to count laps today and my Fenix is still in the shop (lol) but I was in the pool for 45:00

Then I had to go to the dentist. The only reason I’m telling you this is because I’ve been taking every opportunity to visualize racing, including while I got a filling! Must be good news if I can focus on racing during a dental procedure! Pumpin’ up the Jammie 24/7.

In the afternoon I did a stability ball workout sequence that I tore out of a Women’s Running Magazine a while back. Thirty minutes, low-intensity, but solid workout, AND I did it outside on the deck because it was so nice out! Everything adds up.

Thursday, April 26th – hard day

the description today said “intervals, tap into the fast stuff” !! Weeoooo!

3k easy

10 x [1:00 5k pace, 1:00 easy jog]

3k easy

I definitely ran faster than 5k pace, but I was running by feel and felt SO GOOD this morning. Awesome workout! I extended the last easy part to 4k for a wicked 11k morning!

After work it was sooooo nice out and since it was hard day I said sure to another run. 6k aerobic working on form, followed by drills. Total of 17k for the day.

Friday, April 27th – easy day

10k aerobic in the fog, nice and relaxed.

I tried so hard to get the alpacas to come closer to the fence for a selfie but no luck today. Pretty sure this has become my life mission along with qualifying for Boston. I will get the selfie, all in good time. Mark my words. (I’ll also get the BQ)

Later in the afternoon I got to go to CBC to talk about the upcoming Crest Glory Days race! They want to help promote our event while playing songs that are good for running on their morning program Daybreak North. Picking out the best running songs of all time is like impossible, plus for me that would be just putting on Dance Mix ’93..LOL. But the songs I provided them with (they asked for five or six) were:

Can’t Hold Us – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Whatever it Takes – Imagine Dragons

Ground Shake – Dirty Radio

Something Just Like This – The Chainsmokers & Coldplay

Move This – Technotronic (LOL)

Light it Up – Major Lazor

We talked about how music can influence a run, and a little bit about what’s to like about each song, relating to running. Fun! Should be on CBC all next week in the morning just before eight.

Saturday, April 28th – recovery day

So, I finally got a real tire pump (thanks, Chucky!!) instead of effing around with my mini-pump and that meant it was time to ride to work! I think I’m going to write a whole post about fears. I was scared to ride my bike to work. I don’t really know why…mostly because I’d never done it before, plus highway plus riding through town in what isn’t the most cyclist-friendly little place..but I did it! Yaaaaaas cross-training and commute in one. Took just under forty-nine minutes.

Sunday, April 29th – long(ish) run day

The actual long stuff is going to come into play after the half next weekend, and I look forward to it, but this mini-long-run today was fantastic.

15k as 9k easy, 6k working at 5k-10k race effort

I am so stoked on how this went!! I really thought it was going to unfold like two kilometers shredding and the rest hanging on for dear life, but I felt strong the entire 6k and can’t even believe I somehow ran a 5K PR after a 9k warm-up! WIN!

It is SO nice out!!! So I brought running stuff to work and I’m gonna go for five easy kilometers at 6pm. Meet me at my truck if you want 😉

SUMMARY

WEEKLY MILEAGE: 68km (counting the 5k after work, cause I’m going!)

INJURIES/PRE-HAB?

left iliac crest a bit sore; feels bruised. This has happened to me various times in the past on both sides and I haven’t had it diagnosed, but I know there are many insertion points in that area, particularly the TFL (top of the IT band)… Treating with ice and 10% diclofenac gel plus working on paying more attention to my whole left hip and leg during strength work, stretching and rolling.

SLEEP? almost back to normal 🙂 girls’ weekend away will get ya

NUTRITION BRAGS?

hitting the fish oil, greens powder and vitamin D consistently.

CURRENTLY READING:

Let Your Mind Run – A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory – Deena Kastor and Michelle Hamilton (I’m absolutely in LOVE!!!!! with this book so far)

Week two!! There was a time in my life where I wasn’t active, then there was a time where I was, but going out of town would de-rail any routine I’d been keeping with. NOW I look forward to taking my running addiction to new places. It was hard waiting for Thursday because I was so pumped to go to Seattle! Having Lifelong Endurance to keep me accountable is invaluable and I love it. Also, running around is a good way to explore.

Monday, April 16th – easy day

Marathon Monday!! I was at my parents by 6:15am since we don’t have cable and I was just in my glory, having my coffee, stretching and watching this fantastic dream day on TV. When Chesir overtook Daska I started to really get excited, and then I basically had a heart attack when Desi passed Chesir for the lead, once and for all! GAHHHHHHHHHH! And cherry on top, Krista DuChene hammering in on third place! Go Canada! What a seriously amazing day for North American women’s distance running!

After Desi’s win and post-race mini-interview, I went for a celebratory 7km. Very relaxed but felt super strong from all that inspiration.

Then I had a session with Kristen at the gym. As I’ve mentioned, I normally wouldn’t include a workout like this on “easy day” but I take what I can get since we’re pretty limited as to when we can coordinate. Holy shit. She kicked my ass, as usual! Today was all body weight stuff, lots of plyometrics and core! This may have been the most spent I’ve been from working with her, so far. Such a valuable addition to Pump up the JAMmie!

Later, two more chill kilometers to check the mail (nothing :|)

Tuesday, April 17th – hard day

HILLS!

5k easy

10 x 45 sec hills, 1:15 jogs down

3k easy

The new Garmin arrived that afternoon!!! Good to go for the Tenacious Ten! I wanted to test it out but I was so sore from the gym on Monday and those hills were hard enough, so I called it a day. How responsible of me.

Wednesday, April 18th – recovery day

1800m swim (warm-up, 3x500m, cool-down)

60:00 nice and easy on the recumbent bike watching Gun Runners (thanks for the recommendation, Jess)

Thursday, April 19th – hard day

7k as: 3 easy, 4 tempo

I was on the treadmill for this because it was too dark, early and monsoony to go running alone on the highway. I was SO tired and the voice in my head tried many times to convince me to quit in the warm-up and do it later. I told myself this is the kind of thing I need to be able to get through. Kept at it and by the time the warm up ended I was ready for the 4k and I finished feeling strong and fired up!

AND THEN IT WAS TIME FOR SEATTLE WEEKEND! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

picked up Crystal & Bailey at 7:30 for our first mini-roadie to Terrace to catch our flight. Once in Vancouver, we collected our rental car and headed out to Seattle!

Friday, April 20th – easy day

NOVEMBER PROJECT!!!!!! MY FAVOURITE THING AFTER RUNNING! And this counts as a functional strength workout for the week! yessssss

The Seattle NP tribe meets in Gasworks Park (the same place at the start/finish of the Tenacious Ten) on Wednesdays, but on Fridays they switch up their location around the city. Today the location was on the north side of the Montlake Bridge. This is pretty much right where I started the Rock’n’Roll Seattle Marathon last June.

We jogged the less than 4km to the location from our AirBnB in Fremont and had the best workout on the most beautiful morning.

Saturday, April 21st – hard day

Race day! My race plan was to run four chunks progressively; these were the actual instructions from Lifelong Endurance 😂😂😂

First 5k: controlled

Second 5k: apply some pressure

kms 11, 12, 13: tighten the screws

the rest: progress to slay-mode

My only real time goal was to push the overall pace under 5min/km as I work towards that as goal marathon pace, and if that was happening work for sub 1:20. Woohoooooo! I’ll recap the race tomorrow.

I executed the plan better than any race plan ever before and I can’t wait to tell you about it! (And the whole weekend!)

Sunday, April 22nd – recovery day

7k recovery run with Bailey ❤

SUMMARY

WEEKLY MILEAGE: 56km

INJURIES/PRE-HAB? None 😊

SLEEP? Mediocre..

NUTRITION BRAGS? Epic fail over girls weekend away…

CURRENTLY READING: The Resilient Runner (re-reading)

CONFIDENCE BOOSTER(S)

Pushing through my body and mind’s hard resistance to that early morning up-tempo run on Thursday before vaca weekend